Convict love tokens are one of the few numismatic items in Australia that appear in mainstream media more than numismatic media. Collectors love nothing more than to sink their teeth into a series - to allocate an item to a category and type, to understand how it fits into the scheme of things.

The research that has been conducted to tradesman’s tokens is a great example of that numismatic interest - tradesman’s tokens have been categorised according to denomination, issuer, date, region of issue, and even die type.

Although tradesman’s tokens are nowhere near as popular as silver or copper predecimal coins, I’d estimate that around a dozen books, booklets and pamphlets have been published on them over the years, the first dating back to the late 1800’s. A well-studied collector of...

Whenever Australia’s first coins are discussed, most of the focus is placed on the Holey Dollar rather than the Dump. This is hardly surprising, as the larger coin had four times the purchasing power of the smaller coin.

What is often overlooked in that assessment is the fact that the way the Dump was cut and struck determined whether both coins remained in circulation.

If Macquarie’s counter-stamping plan was to prevent coins from being taken outside NSW, the weight of both the Holey Dollar and the Dump needed to fall within a tightly defined range. If either coin weighed outside their intended range, its silver value could vary widely from its face value, which could be an incentive to take the coin away from NSW and pass it off at its intrinsic value, defeating the purpose of the whole...

A number of times over the past four decades, several Holey Dollars have been described by a range of dealers and auctioneers as having been “specially” struck - that is, for archival or presentation purposes.

One characteristic shared by each of these coins were counterstamps that were struck in alignment with the design on the host coin.

Very few Holey Dollars have this characteristic, where if the top of the king’s head or the top of the pillars on the obverse and the peak of the crown on the reverse are positioned to sit at 12 o’clock, then the words “FIVE SHILLINGS” and “NEW SOUTH WALES” in the counterstamps run evenly across the top of the inner circle from approximately 9 o’clock to 3 o’clock.

The silver Resolution and Adventure medallion commemorates Captain James Cook’s Second Voyage across the Southern Hemisphere, a pioneering journey that fundamentally changed the way the world was viewed.

It has long been regarded as a key item in Australian numismatics, and unequivocally rates as one of the most desirable items of Captain Cook memorabilia available. Not only does it remain a direct link to one of the greatest explorers the world has ever known, it is also strongly connected to the man regarded by many as being “The Father of Australia”[1], Sir Joseph Banks.

The Rapid was an early 19th-century American vessel that wrecked on Ningaloo Reef (NW WA coast) in 1811. It was bound for Canton (Guangzhou) in China, and had a cargo of 280,000 Spanish silver dollars when it sank.

Not only was this an incredible sum of money in those days (the weight of this silver was just shy of 8 tonnes), the survival story of the men on the Rapid is one of hardship and endurance. In addition to that, the discovery of the wreck in 1978 has been described as being one of the most incredible finds in Australian maritime history.

If you haven't heard of the Batavia shipwreck, you truly have missed out on a story of depravity and barbarity that is known the world over. The tale of the Batavia also has consequences for the history of white settlement in Australia - throw in a good measure of controversy surrounding

the discovery of the wreck in 1963, and you have a yarn with so many threads you will want to learn every aspect of this story for months to come.

In 1796, Great Britain was at war with Republican France and her allies - not only did England’s future depend upon the courage and skill of the Royal Navy, it was also vital that the wheels of commerce continued to turn.

The Spanish and Spanish colonial silver “dollars” counterstamped for the Bank of England between 1797 and 1811 capture the turbulence of this incredible period in British history in a unique and tangible way.

The nerve of the British population was set on edge by a series of invasion attempts by French naval forces between 1796 and 1798.

The French General Lazare Hoche attempted to land in Ireland in December 1796, however the French forces were scattered by foul weather. A further French invasion attempt in Wales in February of 1797 this time came ashore, but was...

The Gilt Dragon was a “jacht” of the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) that wrecked off the coast of Western Australia in 1656. Not only was this just the 25th European vessel recorded to have reached the shores of the Australian continent, it was only the second to land with a known quantity of silver coins on board.

The Gilt Dragon stands apart from all other wrecks in Australia as being the “first modern discovery of an...

We have extensive experience in handling all Australian gold soveriegns and halves, from the Adelaide Pounds of 1852 right through to the last coins of George V of 1931.

All of the Australian gold coins in our online shop are described in detail, and are depicted by high resolution images showing each side. Our listings are also often accompanied by background information to the coin's history.

At Sterling & Currency, we specialize in handling Australian coins dating from our nation's settlement in 1788 through to the introduction of decimal currency in 1966.

We have an extensive range in our online store of Australian gold, copper and silver coins - we're committed to offering our customers coins that are attractive for their grade and priced according to the current market.

The Australian proof and UNC coins struck by the Perth Mint and the RAM are the most accessible coins available to collectors today.

Our online stock doesn't reflect all of the decimal coins that we handle on a regular basis, much less the stock we have access to, so if you're not able to find a particular coin that you're keen to add to your collection, let us know and we'll be happy to contact you when it becomes available.